Fury as locals are told new estate will be razed by HS2
THE last hopes of residents living on a new estate were dashed yesterday when they were told their homes will be bulldozed to make way for HS2.
Sixteen properties in Mexborough will be razed to make way for the line even though the development is just five years old. Up to 200 more will be blighted.
Families’ worst fears were realised after a proposed station in Meadowhall shopping centre was scrapped in favour of a stop in Sheffield city centre.
It means the line will go straight through the Shimmer development in South Yorkshire.
Some homeowners found out about the HS2 plans only a few weeks after moving into their two and three-storey town houses.
Retired couple Sue and Peter Douglas believe theirs is doomed because their neighbour’s home is in the way.
Mr Douglas, 63, who bought his fourbedroom property for £160,000 in 2012 said: ‘If next door is getting knocked down I presume all of the houses on the estate will have to be knocked down. If you look at the plans for the line, they are going to have to build huge viaducts 20ft up in the air. That will mean ours will have to go, too.
‘We are just so angry at the way we have been treated, we feel betrayed. This was sup-
‘We feel betrayed’
posed to be our retirement home, but now it’s just a nightmare.’
Wayne Butcher, 48, lives in one of the sixteen homes. The father of two, whose children are settled in local schools, said the announcement is ‘devastating’. ‘We wouldn’t get a house like this anywhere else, it’s perfect for our young family, it’s big and has four bedrooms.
‘I think it’s disgusting, and I could get very, very angry about it. These are people’s lives they are messing with.’
HS2 claims the new route will affect fewer homes overall, save more than £1billion, and allow people to travel to London from Sheffield in 79 minutes, instead of 120 minutes.
HS2 claims the new route will affect fewer homes overall, with 35 set to be demolished compared with 84 with the original Meadowhall route.
The government yesterday admitted its existing compensation scheme, which offers homeowners the ‘unblighted’ value of their home plus ten per cent, would not be enough to allow Shimmer residents to buy similar houses locally.
It will now draft a plan with residents to ‘ensure Shimmer homeowners can secure a comparable local home’.
MPs on both sides of the Commons also vented their anger. Former Labour leader Ed Miliband accused Transport Secretary Chris Grayling of a ‘gross discourtesy’ after it emerged the announcement of the final route for HS2 was likely to be ‘sneaked out’ in a written statement.
Mr Miliband, who represents Doncaster North, said: ‘All the indications are now that the news will be sneaked out in a written statement any time now. This is a gross discourtesy and adds insult to injury for my constituents.’
Building will start on HS2 in the mid-2020s and it is scheduled to open in 2033.